You might as well call it what? Focus Features boss James Schamus

So, speaking of the Village Voice, not only did I dig out that swell coupon for free popcorn and soda during Kinda-Sorta-Independent Film Week, but I also was scouring resident gossip genius Michael Musto's column as always. I just about spat out my scotch when reading Musto's account of his recent exchange with Thumbsucker writer-director Mike Mills:

(Paper Magazine) gave me a full night's entertainment by hosting a Ciao dinner for Mike Mills's Thumbsucker, an appendage-dependence epic that probably should have been digital. (Get it? Digital! I love it!) "Everybody said no to this picture, including Sony Classics," Mills told me before din-din. "No one wanted to do a movie about thumbsucking, vulnerability, or flaws. James Schamus from Focus said, 'Thumbsucker? You might as well call it Buttfucker.' OK, so you're homophobic and you don't like my movie. Even at Sundance, only one person wanted to buy it." Well, that's all you need, baby—plus a few thumbs up, which some critics have already generously provided.

Oh. My. God.

Let us just assume—for as long as it takes to read this, I suppose—that Schamus really did dismiss Thumbsucker exactly like that, in those words and in that context. My own brief chat with Mills last week revealed him to be honest, forthcoming and extremely bright. But am I actually supposed to believe that James Schamus—the man in charge of shepherding Brokeback Mountain (probably the most anticipated gay-themed film since Far From Heaven) through the festival circuit and onto screens for a subsidiary of Universal Pictures—would homophobically write Thumbsucker off as Buttfucker? I mean, seriously.

Sorry for the sudden gravity, because hey—what is not funny about that play on words, especially if you are 14 years old or younger? At any rate, it did not really come off as a joke (and especially not one that sources who know Schamus acknowledge he would have made), and Focus publicists did not return The Reeler's calls to help clarify. Sure—it is nothing earth-shattering, but I will bet you Thumbsucker's opening weekend gross that we have not heard the end of this one.